The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

Game #4: Air Force Falcons (2-1) @ Colorado Buffaloes (2-1)

The Air Force Academy is only about 1-1/2 hours by bus from our home court so there were plenty of their fans here for the game.

PG Justin Wilson got called for 2 personal fouls in the firs 1-1/2 minutes. We shot particularly well early in the game and led 22-12 with 11 minutes to play in the first half. Our defense then tightened which helped us to open a commanding 42-18 halftime advantage. We held the Falcons’ shooting to just 20%. C Ike Minahan and SF Kenton Dunn both scored 10 points with Dunn also pulling down 7 rebounds.

While our shooting deteriorated in the 2nd half, we continued to hold a big lead. Air Force’s head coach, Tobe Lopez, was tagged for his 2nd technical early in the 2nd half so he was ejected from the game. Our entire bench got a lot of playing time. We gave up some easy late buckets but still won decisively 73-56.

C Ike Minahan got into foul trouble so only played 19 minutes but was our leading scorer with 16 points. PF Charles Maors hit for 11 points and SF Kenton Dunn had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Arizona has surprisingly started the season with 3 straight losses…to Bucknell, Georgia and South Carolina. None of those teams are ranked in the polls.

[Hey! If you don't like that I used "are" with "none", you're right that usually none is used with a singular verb...but I looked it up and when used with a plural ("those teams"), you use "are". ]

[Wayne23]

Lifelong English teacher here. "None are" is correct in that instance.

[PointGuard]

Game #5: Iowa State Cyclones (2-2) @ Colorado Buffaloes (3-1)

We took a 9-2 lead early in the game, but then had our lead narrowed by the Cyclones. After not scoring when he started the game, SG Camah Griffin returned to the court midway through the first half and scored 7 straight points while we held Iowa State scoreless so that we opened a 22-11 lead with 6 minutes to go until the break. The half ended with us on top 35-25. We held Iowa State’s shooting to 36% and had an 11-2 turnover advantage. Leading our scoring were SG Camah Griffin and SF Kenton Dunn who both scored 7 points.

Iowa State kept close to us early in the 2nd half, but completely fell apart in the final 10 minutes as we steadily pulled away for a 77-45 thrashing of the Cyclones. We outshot Iowa State 46% to 34% and forced the Cyclones to commit 25 turnovers while we turned the ball over just 7 times. We played our entire bench.

SF Rick Coffey, PG Justin Wilson, and SF Kenton Dunn each scored 14 points. Those 3 players hit 7 of 9 three-point attempts.

Compared to last season when the Pac-12 had 3 teams ranked in the top 5 and 5-7 teams in the top 25, this season only 3 teams are ranked in the top 25: UCLA at #3, Oregon at #10, and Washington at #21.

[PointGuard]

Game #6: Purdue Boilermakers (3-3) @ Colorado Buffaloes (4-1)

Both teams have hosted Kansas State thus far this season. The Boilermakers beat the Wildcats by 3 points whereas we beat Kansas State by 18 points. Purdue’s starting guards (Rusty Gilbert and Nathan Lutz) have combined to average 26.4 ppg and their two interior starters (Brett Masiello and Jon Croom) have combined to score 18.2 ppg.

It took 3-1/4 minutes before either team scored. Kenton Dunn finally broke the scoring drought when he hit a 12 foot jumper from the side of the key. We led 6-0 when Purdue finally broke into the scoring column with 13:51 remaining in the first half. We led 22-12 but then the Boilermakers went on an 11-0 run to take their first lead of the game. We closed out the scoring in the remainder of the half to sport a 28-23 halftime advantage. We hit 26% of our shots and Purdue his 27% of theirs, but we held an 8-1 turnover advantage. PG Justin Wilson scored 6 points to lead our scoring.

C Ike Minahan scored 11 of our first 13 points in the 2nd half to help us to a 41-31 lead with 14 minutes to play, but he was playing with 3 fouls. But even though we rested him at that point his hot streak got our other players to finally start hitting their shots. With 7-1/2 minutes remaining we had jumped out to a 62-40 lead and our shooting percentage had blossomed to 44% for the game. Our hot streak continued til the end of the game as we won going-away 84-50. We improved our shooting to 49% while holding Purdue’s shooting to 25%.

C Ike Minahan finished the game with 24 points and 8 rebounds. SF Rick Coffey chipped in 15 points and PG Justin Wilson added 10. Even though he didn’t score, SG Camah Griffin dished out 7 assists.

For the 2nd straight game we didn’t allow an opposing player to score in double figures.

A fourth Pac-12 team edged into the top 25 in the polls…Stanford is not #22. We’re still on the outside looking in.

[PointGuard]

Game #7: #15 Pittsburgh Panthers (6-1) @ Colorado Buffaloes (5-1)

Pittsburgh has beaten #22 Oklahoma State but lost to #21 Washington. They have 4 players averaging in double figures.

We came out strongly and played with confidence but Pittsburgh kept up with us. We held a small lead early but midway through the half the lead was repeatedly exchanged and with 10 minutes left the game was tied at 20-20. We regained the lead but then the Panthers overtook us in the waning moments of the first half. We trailed 46-43 at the break. PG Justin Wilson scored 9 points, but Pittsburgh’s PF Luis Clark hit for 12 and their SF Jamel Monson scored 11.

Our defense improved in the 2nd half and we led 58-54 with 12 minutes left in the game. Pittsburgh then scored 10 unanswered points to put us behind by 6. The Panthers maintained the momentum to down us 77-70. The team stats were pretty equal except for Pittsburgh going to the line 13 more times and scoring 13 more points on free throws than did we.

PG Justin Wilson scored 13 and SG Camah Griffin and C Ike Minahan both scored 11. Pittsburgh was led by PF Luis Clark’s 23 points, 14 rebounds and 6 blocks.

Playing a strong team like Pittsburgh shows we still have a lot of work to do before Pac-12 play begins.

[PointGuard]

Game #8: Colorado Buffaloes (5-2) @ Duke Blue Demons (4-5)

Duke has been on probation and has 2 more years with no scholarships or post-season play. They therefore have a number of walk-on players since they’ve been unable to recruit. While this accounts for their substandard record, they have a very talented senior in SF Shawn Walton who is averaging 18.1 ppg this season. But even without being able to recruit, the Duke reputation has brought them some very good walk-ons. So they have enough other talented players that they can’t be taken lightly, especially on their home court.

We played lackadaisically throughout the entire first half. Duke led all the way and we never made a significant run. The half ended with us trailing 30-21 after hitting just 32% of our shots and 10% of our 3’s, and never getting to the foul line. SF Kenton Dunn had 6 points. It was hard to tell if I was able to rouse the players in the locker room during the intermission.

Missed opportunities and mistakes continued in the 2nd half. Even though Duke coughed up the ball frequently, we couldn’t capitalize. But as the game dwindled down toward the end, we finally were able to get within 3 points with 2-1/2 minutes to play. PG Justin Wilson was fouled with 2:12 on the clock and made both ends of a 1-and-1 to get us within a single point at 46-45. On the following possession, Duke’s SG Stevie Ward drove toward the basket, pulled up and fired in a 10 foot jumper making it 48-45. SF Kenton Dunn was fouled and he dropped in both shots to cut the difference to a point with 1:45 to go. Duke missed two shots on their next possession but we were called for travelling with 1:02 remaining. Stevie Ward hit a baseline jumper to put the Blue Devils ahead 50-47 with 45 seconds on the clock. Kenton Dunn 15 footer rattled in with 33 seconds left to make it 50-49. We waited until the ball went to Duke’s C Shea Evans and fouled intentionally. Even though Evans is their worst foul shooter, he foiled our effort by sinking both free throws and we trailed 52-49 with 18 seconds still to play. We brought the ball up court quickly and called our last time out to set up a 3 point attempt. Matt Conley’s shot rimmed out but Ike Minahan tipped in the rebound with 8 seconds to go. We tried to foul but time ran out and we went down to a 52-51 defeat. Both teams shot poorly, 33% for us and 31% for Duke, but we hit just 1 of 14 from 3-point distance. It was a disappointing loss. With any spark of life we could have won this game. But kudos to Duke: they did what they needed to pull off a win.

SF Kenton Dunn with 16 points was our only player to score in double figures.

[PointGuard]

Game #9: #7 seed Pennsylvania Quakers (5-6) vs #2 seed Colorado Buffaloes (5-3) [Hoops for Troops Tournament]

I had a nightmare last night. I dreamed that the lead shifted back and forth throughout the entire game against Pennsylvania. Finally we hit a shot with 15 seconds left that put us up 67-65. But the Quakers were about to bring the ball up court. Would they hit a 3 that would again cause us to lose by a single point? But before the 15 seconds ensued, I awoke. Was the dream a foretelling of what was to come?

After how we’d played our last game with a lack of energy, I shuffled the lineup for this game, starting Steve Jackson in place of Camah Griffin at SG, moving Kenton Dunn to PF in place of Charles Maors, and inserting Rick Coffey into the starting lineup at SF.

We opened a 9-3 lead but then Pennsylvania came back to tie us. After a few more ties, we finally were able to begin building a lead which grew to 47-37 at the end of the first half. SF Rick Coffey led our scoring with 13 points.

We gradually expanded our lead to as much as 24 points in the 2nd half. The Quakers narrowed the gap late in the game but we won handily 99-83 by hitting 54% of our shots and holding a 14-7 turnover advantage. Reality topped my dream.

SF Rick Coffey came up big with 23 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. PF/SF Kenton Dunn hit for 20 points, SG Steve Jackson popped in 15, and PG Justin Wilson added 12. Pennsylvania’s SG Dave Worrell topped their scoring with 19 points.

[Wayne23]

Them there dreams don't mean nuthin'!

[PointGuard]

Game #10: #3 seed Clemson Tigers vs #2 seed Colorado Buffaloes (6-3) [Hoops for Troops Tournament]

Clemson employs a 1-3-1 zone defense. They beat Iowa State by 20 while we topped the Cyclones by 32. The Tigers whipped Northwestern by a score of 70-63 in the first round of the Hoops for Troops tournament.

The first half had 8 lead changes and 3 ties but we came out of it with a slim 36-34 lead. SG Steve Jackson scored 9 points while Clemson’s PG Chris Jarvis dropped in 14.

We came out of the gate quickly in the 2nd half to open a 10 point lead after 4 minutes of play. Clemson made a run to cut our lead to 3 midway through the half, but we then gradually pulled away to knock off the Tigers 71-58 and move on to the championship game.

PF/SF Kenton Dunn and SG Steve Jackson shared scoring honors for us with 13 points apiece. PG Chris Jarvis finished the game with 20 points for Clemson.

[PointGuard]

Game #11: #2 seed Colorado Buffaloes (7-3) vs #1 seed, #18 ranked Georgia Bulldogs (10-0) [Hoops for Troops Tournament Championship Game]

The Bulldogs, Kentucky and Southern Illinois are the only three remaining unbeaten teams. Georgia has allowed just 56.1 ppg by their opponents, which is 2nd best in the nation. While they’re ranked 18th in the Media Poll, they are ranked 14th in the Coaches Poll. They beat Southern Methodist 72-52 and DePaul 79-70 in the Hoops for Troops tournament to get into this championship game. Their 2 starting guards are both scoring in double figures, but their top offensive producer is SF Orlando Taflinger who is averaging 15.4 ppg. He is also their top rebounder with 6.9 rpg. Obviously we’ll need to play very well to beat the Bulldogs.

The first half was a barn burner. Defense predominated and there were numerous lead changes. We fell behind 20-15 but then scored the final 18 points of the half while harassing the Bulldogs’ ball handlers and passers so that they made 7 turnovers in a span of 6 minutes. That run gave us a 33-20 lead at the break. PF/SF Kenton Dunn scored 9 points to lead us offensively. Georgia only hit 25% of their shots and made 11 turnovers. Rick Coffey and Kenton Dunn held Orlando Taflinger scoreless.

I told the team during the intermission that the Bulldogs would not remain shell-shocked and to expect them to come out in the 2nd half with a vengeance.

Georgia’s Orlando Taflinger came out firing and connecting, but we maintained a double digit lead as we got scoring from throughout our lineup. Our defense solidified again after the first 5 minutes of the half making it possible to increase our lead to 20 with 8-1/2 minutes remaining. Georgia tried to make a couple runs but we cut them off each time and came away with a surprisingly lopsided 69-53 victory and a tournament championship!

Our defense was the difference in this game. Georgia hit just 30% of their shots and made 20 turnovers. We maintained a controlled offense throughout the game, hitting 44% of our shots and only turning the ball over 12 times and scoring 22 points in the paint to just 6 for the Bulldogs.

PF/SF Kenton Dunn scored 15, SG Steve Jackson tossed in 14 points, and C Ike Minahan added 10.

Hey! Finally something new for out trophy cabinet!